The BS is Worth It

Hi people. The BS is worth it. What BS? Oh, the military BS.

The your husband has a random urinalysis on his day off, when you had plans BS.

The your husband was going to have Christmas (insert holiday here) off, but got called in last minute because he was one of the only students in town BS.

The “I’m flying today,” “I’m not flying today,” “JK I’m flying tomorrow,” “JK JK we’re actually going now it cleared up and I won’t be home for dinner,” that I slaved over BS.

The BS silly meaningless tiffs because a big event is coming up and he’s stressed.

The we can’t do/go to something because of: studying, flying, or something he has to do so I have to take care of the dogs BS. 

Here’s the thing: I can go on and on because being a military spouse has it’s bright and shiny moments, but it also can be the pits. There are a lot of frustrating things about the military, and it’s never your spouses fault, because it’s out of their control. 

What I’m trying to say is all the BS moments that frustrate you to no end are all worth it and here’s why.

When I met my husband, the military was a goal, and flying was a pipe dream. Don’t get me wrong, becoming a Marine Corps pilot was definitely an attainable goal for him, but it was far far away. 

I can remember sitting with him around Christmas time in 2013 mapping out the pilot hypothetical pipeline. We had an estimate that he would start primary flight school around Jan/Feb 2017, 4 years later, and man were we on the nose with that timeline, which is totally unheard of. 

I sat thru the ASTB studying. I helped keep him motivated for the PFTs. I helped with keeping him positive when he wasn’t selected for the upcoming OCS class, which was a few times (not uncommon). I celebrated when he was selected. I cried proud tears when he went to OCS. I wrote 65 letters while he was at OCS. Again, I cried proud tears when he commissioned a 2nd Lt. When TBS instructors were trying to make him think he was going to lose his air contract (scare tactics), I helped him study harder and kept him from breaking under pressure. When he finished TBS with that air contract, I helped him pack up and move to Pensacola. Throughout IFS, API, Primary, Advanced and even some of the FRD, I spent many hours with him at Starbucks either studying for my nursing things, or helping him study. Through these schools, I saw the stress and pressure he put on himself to succeed, and would bring him back down to Earth when he was being too hard on himself. 

Now, yes I said “I” a lot in that last paragraph, but I have been through it all with him. I helped in whatever way I could each and every step of the way, but he did the leg work. He accomplished his goals, and I am one of the only people who truly saw the heart and soul he put into all of this. He would’ve been fine without me, but even he has said having me there through it all made some of the hard parts a little better. 

Through it all, watching him achieve his goals along the way has been inspiring and emotional. Here are a few of the big days that really hold a special place in my heart.

• OCS selection – It was an exiting day, step 1 of the process
• OCS Commissioning – I cried proud tears because we were starting a new journey in the USMC
• The day he got his flight suit – He was truly on the way to becoming a Marine Corps Pilot
• The day he was selected for KC130s – OMG we were one school away from him being a winged aviator AND he got an incredible plane. Here we were in July 2017 heading to his final flight school in October. 
• The day he winged – He did it. He could actually call himself a winged aviator and a future KC130 pilot. WOW.

I didn’t think I could be more proud of him than on the day he got his wings. That was the big goal. That was the big goal for 4 years, and he did it, what was next? I really didn’t think anything would top the feeling of pinning his wings on, but man was I wrong.

Yesterday topped it all. Yesterday, all the BS, all the tears, all the laughter, all the stress, all the studying, all the freezing at Starbucks, all the moving, all the traveling, all the EVERYTHING was 100000% worth it.

Yesterday, he flew the KC130 for the first time, and I had no idea that watching him fly would make me as emotional as I was. I had seen him fly plenty of times before, but they were all trainer planes. Yesterday, he was flying HIS plane, the one that he worked so hard to get to. I honestly can’t even put into words how I felt in that moment other than I was intensely proud of him, proud of his Co-pilot, and proud of us. To say this whole journey was easy would be a big fat lie, especially as of recently with moving, but that was all erased when I saw him flying over our town for the first time.

So I just want to let those military spouses out there know that all the BS is worth it when you see them achieving their goals. And remember I’m proud of you too. Us spouses do a lot of work to help get them through whatever they’re doing. So when you have your proud moments, it’s ok to be proud of yourself as well. You’re a member of their team and you have been since the day you chose to join onto the military journey. Congratulations on your achievements thus far and into the future!

I don’t know what’s next on his/our goal list, but that’s what’s exciting about this whole military journey! I guess for now we kind of get to wing it a little bit until we know what his next goal is.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this please subscribe over on the right and follow me on Instagram (you can see the video of him flying over there).

-D